Holly Moore

Earlier this year I flew around the world on Singapore Airlines. Singapore Air's Around The World Fares are one of the best airfare bargains going. Even a better bargain as Singapore Air is consistently chosen "Best First Class" in the world by airline rating polls. I flew US Air from Philadelphia to San Francisco and then Singapore Air to Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt and ending at JFK in New York. While in Singapore I took the Eastern and Oriental Express to Bangkok. I'll do a separate post on that. Part of what makes Singapore Airlines First Class experience so special is their in-air menu. It shows what is possible at 35,000 feet. First Leg: San Francisco to Hong Kong. Meals served - Supper and Breakfast Welcoming Champagne - Dom Perignon 1999 or Krug Grande Cruvee. That's all they pour. Order a mimosa with breakfast and it is made with Dom Perignon. Supper Appetizer: Duck terrine with champagne jelly and baby lettuce Soup: Creamy pumpkin soup with hazelnut cream Entree: Pre Ordered from Singapore Air's SFO Book The Cook Menu. - Lobster Thermidore, with buttered asparagus, slow-roasted vine-ripened tomato, and saffron rice. Dessert: Assorted fruit sorbet with seasonal fruit salad and tuile basket Breakfast before landing in Hong Kong: Fresh Fruit Plate Maine Lobster Noodle Soup with egg noodles and Chinese greens

Except in the southern hemisphere.

True. But to get paid for it? ← You don't get paid for your eGullet posts?

And given the difficulty of breaking into print as a food critic..... ← Thanks to eGullet it has become easier, at least to break into electronic print. Food blogging too. I suspect many of the blogs and eGullet posts have wider true readership than many a print food critic.

I'd rephrase that to "Editorial and advertising should be different." When I first started writing a restaurant column for the City Paper the advertising sales types were constantly after me to write about a restaurant they were pitching. One went so far as to sell a restaurant an advertising contract with promise that I would write about the place. I didn't. At the time this sort of contact wasn't really discouraged. Fortunately I had total backing from the publisher when I told any ad person that called me that I would never write about any restaurant he/she asked me to write about. A few years later the City Paper ran a second restaurant "review/feature" that was written by the advertising department but appeared to be editorial - sickenly flowery and horribly written most of the time. Hindsight - I should have insisted they stop it, but I didn't. Maybe because it was total separate from what I considered my food section. My sense is that, except in the city dailies, there will often be pressure to write about advertisers and it is up to the writer to refuse to do so.

Nope. Robin Rinaldi in a column titled "The Importance of Being Finicky". For the eGullet discussion see here. Warning, false assumptions ahead, unfortunately on my part.

Some thoughts about a food critic being recognized: 1. Chances are that, as rumored, Laban's pics are out there hanging on some kitchen walls. This always seems to be the case, no matter how protective the critic is of his appearance. Does that give a bad restaurant, which happens to recognize Laban because of a pic on their wall and therefore gives him much better food and service than the typical diner, an unfair advantage over a good restaurant whom has no idea that Laban is gracing their dining room. Would not a recognizable critic level the playing field? 2. In court the Inquirer argued, “Craig LaBan’s photographic or video image, as well as the methods he uses while reviewing restaurants, meet the definition of trade secrets … Keeping this information secret assists Mr. LaBan in performing his job and thus has economic value to him. His anonymity allows him to better assess what the average customer will be served because the restaurant does not know the meal is being reviewed by the Inquirer.” If a critic's anonymity is so essential, must that critic resign once people start recognizing him? Would it be unethical to continue critiquing restaurants once the critic is recognizable? 3. On the other hand, a known critic in the dining room creates added stress in both the kitchen and the dining room. Turn-out and service during a mealtime rush is already extremely high stress. A critic in the dining room could be the straw that throws a kitchen and service staff, even a very competent kitchen and service staff, into the weeds resulting in an atypically poor meal service and critic experience. 4. A review can have two purposes that could but don't necessarily merge into a single purpose. The review relates the critic's actual dining experience. The review may or may not accurately portray a restaurant's ability to consistently provide good dining experiences. A review that does the latter gives the potential diner much better information than a review that merely relates a critic's actual dining experience. My experience has been that one can gather a more realistic feel of a restaurant's capabilities and consistency by being the fly on the wall during a couple of meal services - spending most of one's time in the kitchen and some in the dining room observing. A kitchen turning out a hundred or two hundred meals a service isn't going to be able to clean up its act just because Craig Laban is standing in the corner watching.

To be fair, Brian McManus asserts the onion rings have an "almost poison-like" aftertaste not a "poisonous" aftertaste. But how does one distinguish between a "poison-like" and an "almost poison-like" aftertaste? Post-meal survival time? What about those devious, flavorless poisons favored by Agatha Christie that don't taste the least bit "poison-like?" Or maybe the onion rings had a cyanidic aftertaste of almonds. So many possibilities. A food critic, even a Philadelphia Weekly food critic, needs to be more precise. For an insight into McManus's take on things, check out his earlier review of National Mechanics. He seems to have a predictable, starving college student view of yup-scale diners that carries through from the "swinish tribe of trend-worshiping, spray-tanned philistines who don’t mind dropping 10 bones or more each time they order a cocktail" who roam Old City to the "Washington Square scenesters” referenced in his Restaurant 707 ravaging.

The producers knew exactly what they were getting with Aaron. I've been involved a few times in selecting participants for reality TV. Aaron and all the others went through extensive physical and psychological testing before being selected. Aaron was selected for his physical and psychological problems. And to provide Ramsey with an easy target. I'm guessing the producers played a hand in Aaron not being selected for elimination, being chosen to bone fish table side and for him volunteering to head up the omelet prep with his team members not objecting to an obvious disaster-to-be. Putting Aaron on a show with such high induced stress sets a new low for reality TV.

I've always wondered how Friendly's has been able to give its customers free "Happy Endings" for dessert.

What's a Dinky? Back when I joined Dunkin' Donuts new products department they were test marketing a Dinky - like a McD fried apple pie, but filled with meat. The only person who liked the name was the guy who came up with it. The product's slogan was, indeed, "What's a Dinky?" Alas the Dinky never made it out of test market.

I heading back to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines for the first time in a few years. Lots to do and some of the best , if not the best, fair eating in the country. There's also free Mulligan Stew at the National Hobo Convention an hour or two north of Des Moines - August 9 - 12 - in Britt Iowa. Iowa is a great place to spend August.

Saw on their web site that they serve lunch Friday and Saturday. I called at 1:30 to learn when they stopped serving. 1:15. Molto uncivil.

Diner breakfast?

Speaks to my questions as to how Shola's style translates to a restaurant kitchen. Very successfully. Bravo. Not taking anything away from the rest of the meal, but there I'd love to see lamb croquettes on a restaurant menu somewhere.

When the Atlantic City casinos started up, Philadelphia's service labor market tightened up - especially at skilled levels. Also it was rumored that some of the best area meat, produce and seafood went to the casinos. On the plus side, it is not a given that the casino will draw away all that many of your customers, especially the second home owners. Could be the last thing that a lot of your summer regulars would want to do is to suffer casino glitz and crowds. One suggestion. Make good friend$ with the concierge staff, door men, bell hops, cab drivers and the like. As someone else said, some of those 15000 people are going to want to escape the casino for a meal or two.

Grimey, gritty and bus fumey?

More than diner perception I was wondering if Shola feels he has had to adapt his style, ingredients and techniques due to a larger audience.

I'm curious if Shola is able to approach such dinners the same as he did with his Studio Kitchen masterpieces. Or are there limitations when cooking away from Studio Kitchen and for larger crowds - i.e. Local rather than flown in ingredients, techniques that do not translate well from 8 to 50 or mroe diners, limitations on creativity if he has to shoot for a lower common denominator with a relatively unknown audience.

A research assignment for you. Who is the Chinese restaurant owner or chef who created the universal Chinese restaurant menu found in 93% of all U.S. Chinese restaurants?

Seems they screened in rather than screened out the emotionally challenged.

Continuing the exploration as to what does and does not pair with scrapple - Had brunch today at Rouge. Ordered the open faced scrapple sandwich - a slice of toasted french bread topped with sauteed greens, goat cheese, scrapple and two sunnyside up eggs. Goat cheese does not go with scrapple.

Read this thread. Then I read the article. Huh??? Can't see why folks are so upset. Enjoyed the article; enjoyed Richman's writing. Alan Richman is relating his impressions and doing so respectfully and humorously. The reader is seeing The Ferry Building through his eyes. Richman's goal seems to be whetting the appetite of those not familiar with the Ferry Building, not reinforcing the beliefs of those who know the place well. I have never been there. Now I want to. Didn't know much about the place. Now I do. Can't ask for much more than that.

Freelance, with the help of a good accountant, can be very rewarding both professionally and tax wise.

Stopped by this afternoon. Looks like barbecued lamb (goat?) (ET?) ala Lecter is on the menu this evening.